In January 2012, as part of a Library "Re-organization" an unspecified number of layoffs were announced in the Harvard Library system. Unlike in 2008, its endowment has returned to profitability. Join us in building a struggle against layoffs at Harvard.
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Library Staff Raise Concerns at Panel Discussion

Janet Katz, a senior research librarian at the
Harvard Law School Library, speaks about the recent cost-cutting
measures at Harvard libraries. She was one of the speakers at the
Harvard Forum on the Future of Libraries on Tuesday.

At a panel discussion on the reorganization of Harvard’s
library system, faculty members and library staff members voiced many of
the concerns pertaining to librarians’ job security, the future quality
of the library system, and communication and commitment from Mass. Hall
that have all plagued the reorganization effort since the January
announcement that the restructuring would involve staffing cuts.

During
the discussion on Tuesday, University Librarian Robert C. Darnton ’60
said that there had been “a series of catastrophic misunderstandings”
during the reorganization process but assured the crowd that “those of
us in the library take this [dialogue] very seriously.”
He said
that “the impression [among staff] that there would be sudden, brutal,
[and] massive layoffs” was not true. At this point, he said,
administrators “don’t have any idea of what the size of the staff will
be.”

History
professor Lisa M. McGirr called upon the University to think beyond
financial cares when making decisions about the size of the staff.

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“Harvard is, and should continue to be, more than that,”
McGirr said. “Efficiency can be a good thing and doesn’t require
layoffs—we should proceed with great care and caution.”

But the
discussion on Tuesday covered topics beside the looming threat of
involuntary layoffs which has sparked numerous protests on campus
throughout the semester.

Harvard Union of Clerical and Technical
Workers Director Bill Jaeger, who was unable to attend the forum, said
that he perceives the University’s message to have moved away from the
subject of layoffs since the “stark announcement of January 19.”

“I
think the ongoing conversation among the library staff is changing and
is less concerned about avoiding layoffs and more concerned about other
parts of the library organizational design that are also really
important,” Jaeger said.

The conversation on Tuesday followed that tack.

Darnton acknowledged that stakeholders are concerned about service quality from the library and said he shared those worries.

“I was upset to see that services had declined in many ways,” he said.

But he said that the University’s support for the libraries has not decreased; if it had, he said, he would have resigned.

Janet Katz, a librarian on the panel, said she was specifically anxious about the cataloging of volumes in the near future.

“I
know how excellent HOLLIS is,” Katz said about the library’s online
catalog system, “and I just hate to think it would become any less.”

Panelist
and classics professor Richard F. Thomas said he had been disappointed
by the level of faculty and librarian involvement in the decision-making
process thus far. “We need more than just conversations between the
people who are putting [in] the system and librarians,” he said. “We
need actual input from librarians who are willing to give it and have
the expertise to give it. I think librarians and faculty embrace change,
but that change has to be change that doesn’t diminish the quality of
the libraries in all media.”

—Staff writer Dan Dou can be reached at ddou@college,harvard.edu.
—Staff writer Samuel Y. Weinstock can be reached at sweinstock@college.harvard.edu.

2009 Platform

2. For a union that stands up publicly to protect workers. We call for building alliances with other campus unions, students, and community groups to oppose such problems as under-staffing, spiking medical costs, speed ups, and racial discrimination.

3. For raises of 6% per year, plus a cost of living adjustment tied to local cost of living indexes - Boston is the third most expensive city in the U.S.